General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. had a scare on Saturday when catcher Carlos Ruiz suffered a sprained neck in Panama’s 7-0 loss to Puerto Rico in a first round game of the World Baseball Classic in San Juan.
Ruiz was involved in a contact play at home early in the contest, and later flipped off his mask while chasing a pop-up and felt a pinch in his neck. He left the game after the sixth inning as a precaution and was later evaluated by Panama's trainer, who diagnosed the sprain as minor.
Ruiz was back in Panama’s lineup on Sunday for what turned out to be the nation’s final game of the tournament, a 9-0 loss to the Dominican Republic. He ended the weekend with a pair of singles in five at-bats.
"I don't want any of our players to get hurt," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Do I worry about it? There's nothing I can do about it. They have a choice whether they can go play and Major League Baseball definitely wants them to go play, so actually it can kind of be a tough spot to be in. But at the same time, I don't know what we do about it."
Counting Ruiz, the Phillies have ten players participating in the World Baseball Classic.
The most successful in the tournament thus far have been Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. The duo has hit a combined .500 (5-for-10) for the United States in victories over both Canada and Venezuela.
Venezuelan pitching prospect Yoel Hernandez allowed three earned runs on a pair of hits and recorded just one out in Sunday loss to the United States.
Reliever J.C. Romero pitched an inning-plus and notched a win on Monday for Puerto Rico.
Elsewhere, Australian prospect Brad Harman scored four runs and collected three hits in the Aussies surprise win over Mexico on Monday.
Australian hurlers Drew Naylor and Scott Mitchinson and catcher Joel Naughton have yet to make an appearance in the tournament.
Matt Stairs finished the tournament hitless in six at-bats for Team Canada.
(Patrick Gordon is a freelance baseball writer and managing editor of the Philadelphia Baseball Review. For more stories involving Philadelphia baseball visit www.philadelphiabaseballreview.com)
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